ESNY

Maria Sharapova was unable to answer back Serena Williams’ overwhelming play in today’s women semi-finals at the All England Club

Make it 17 straight head-to head matches #1 ranked female tennis player Serena Williams has taken over the #4 ranked female in the world Maria Sharapova.

Today’s semifinal matchup at the The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, otherwise known as Wimbledon, pitted the two highest ranked women remaining in the tournament against one another for the 20th time.

Unfortunately, the expected fireworks never got off the ground as Williams dominated Sharapova in two straight sets: 6-2 and 6-4.

A blistering first serve, getting up to 120 + MPH, Williams won 25 of her 29 first service points. She was in no danger of having her service broken by Sharapova. In fact, she faced 0 opportunities from her opponent.

Sharapova looked mentally distracted from her game today. Early in the match, she made several unforced errors, including three double-faults when she was serving. At one point, she committed two straight in the first game of the opening set.

Despite these errors, Sharapova was able to battle back and not allow her nemesis to coast through. She was able to win two games, after it looked to be a runaway by Williams.

But, it seemed an uphill battle for her, as Williams looked to get stronger with each passing game. In the first set, she looked uncharacteristically calm, as pointed out by ESPN’s tennis analyst and tennis great Chris Everett.

Her play was so dominating, Williams didn’t yield a point to Sharapova in two games of the second set. And when she did, it was by her own hands.

Take for example the last game of the match.

After Sharapova was able to win the seventh game to bring her within in one game of evening the second set, Williams closed out the set and match by overpowering her. Williams won with four aces to close out the match, topping her serves at 123 MPH. The only time she gave up a point was on a double-fault of her own.

All-time, Serena Williams has rattled Maria Sharapova’s confidence. Several times in the match, Sharapova showed her frustration for the world to see.

With her win in the semi-finals, she advances to face 20th ranked Garbine Muguruza in the Finals, an opponent she is 2-1 all-time. She will have an opportunity to win her sixth Wimbledon title. Williams also surpasses the great Steffi Graf in career Grand Slam wins:

I guess that’s what’s happens when you have no answer to being dominated by an opponent like Williams.

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